The Governors of Illinois and Colorado, J.B Pritzker and Jared Polis respectively, have announced that they will be forming “Governors Safeguarding Democracy”, a non-partisan alliance of governors from across the United States that aims to “uphold and fortify” American democracy, as stated on the organizations webpage. This comes after the historic re-election of Donald Trump to a second, non-consecutive term as US President, which is the second time in American history that a President served two nonconsecutive terms. Trump’s promises and rhetoric on the campaign trail, especially from key nominees for important Trump administration positions, has led to a quickly increasing concern from many democratic leaders and politicians that Trump and his allies will actively work to undermine the Constitution and democratic norms to achieve Trump’s goals of deporting tens of millions of Illegal immigrants from the country. Trump’s chief of staff, Stephen Miller, has even reportedly considered the idea of sending National Guard units from Republican-led states to Democratic-led states to force them to comply with the deportations, according to NPR. This would likely lead to violence between Democratic state NG units and Republican NG units, which could be the underpinnings of a potential second civil war, though this is very unlikely, especially since governors from any state must agree to another state sending NG units to theirs.
Governor J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) during the second night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The formation of GSD has led to some controversy among Democratic governors. For example, the Governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, stated to the Boston Globe in a report that she would not be joining the “resistance” against the incoming Trump administration, though she did reportedly not provide any reasons for not joining. Another Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, also stated that she would not be joining GSD, and would instead “focus on the people of the State of Michigan”. However, in other areas, GSD seems to have inspired confidence among Democratic politicians, with famously anti-Trump governor Gavin Newsom of California calling a special session of California’s legislature to “Trump-proof” his state from any abuses of power by the President-Elect and his cabinet. There have also reportedly been efforts by many state Attorney Generals and lawyers to draft up plans to legally resist any Trump-led efforts to undermine their rights, which is an ironic twist on the often right-wing “State’s Rights” movement.
Sources
National Public Radio, “Blue states prepare to fight Trump administration policies”
The Snapper 